Venice Carnival Masks

ABOVE: Beaded mask, using glass beads from the island of
Murano. Elisabeth Vedrenne, author of Living in
Venice, reports that the Baroness Nella Lopez y Rojo is the only remaining
practitioner of this craft.

Today's Venetian masks
serve two functions: as vehicles for self-expression and self-display during Carnevale,
and as souvenirs or craft objects to take home as souvenirs of a Venetian trip.

Masks are easy to obtain in Venice. Street vendors sell them (especially
at Carnival time), and you can buy anything from mass-produced paper or ceramic miniatures
to handcrafted papier-mache and leather masks by skilled artisans.

If you're serious about buying a quality mask, you should visit one of the
workshops where masks are made on the premises. Here are two that come highly recommended
by the shopping experts:

Mondonovo
Rio Terra Canal
Dorsoduro 3063
Tel. 287 344

Frederic Vitoux, author of Venice:
The Art of Living, says that Mondonovo "makes masks that are replicas of the
old models, but also fills your most fanciful orders." (The shop is located near the
Campo Santa Margherita and the Ca' Rezzonico stop on vaporetto line No. 1.)

This shop is near the SS Giovanni e Paolo church, inland from the Ospedale
vaporetto station. It's one of the oldest maskmaking studios in Venice, and its owner
comes from a family of puppetmakers. See page 3 for a link to a Web photo page that shows
masks being made here.

Also visit the Web
site of Tragicomica, a highly-regarded
costumer and maskmaker.